Pages

Monday, November 30, 2009

I should have known it was going to be one of those days when...Jillian from The Biggest Loser visited me in my dream as I woke up. I tried to explain my tight pants with such excuses as having no time to work out, just a season of life with two kids and needing to compensate with daily doses of chocolate and the eating of the yummiest pecan pie ever for Thanksgiving. She just stared at me, smiling with her all knowing smile, as I gave excuse after excuse (at least she didn't yell at me.)

I should have known it was going to be one of those days when...Caleb's vocal box has been stuck on whine 70% of the time today, with arguing taking up 20% and his incessant normal chatter the remaining 10%.

I should have known it was going to be one of those days when...Nathan bonked his head the third, fifth, seventh time. Each time, crying as if the world was ending and mommy's hugs were the only chance of salvation. (I have to admit though, I do enjoy the snuggling that comes with bonked heads.)

I should have known it was going to be one of those days when...It is a Monday, a rainy Monday nonetheless.

I should have known it was going to be one of those days when...My mom called saying she has a SEVERE headache and there is really nothing I can do to help, but pray. (If you think of it, will you join my in praying for her? Her headaches seem to increasing in severity and frequency again and I am a tad bit worried.)

I should have known it was going to be one of those days when...All I, the non-runner, wanted to do was put on my tennis shoes and run far far far away for just a little while. (I have since worked out using my Wii Active Sport and have to say the endorphins are definitely helping me have a better outlook on life.)

I guess I should have known it was going to one of those days when...I closed my last post with...

Thursday, November 19, 2009

I thought this was an incredibly thought provoking and challenging article. I am still wrestling with it and some of the implications (theological and practical). I wanted to share thinking you might want to wrestle a bit too...

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

By Shane Claiborne, founder of The Simple Way, a ministry to the poor.

To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn's Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn't quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don't know Jesus.

Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, "God is not a monster." Maybe next time I will.

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating. We have given the atheists less and less to disbelieve. And the sort of Christianity many of us have seen on TV and heard on the radio looks less and less like Jesus.

At one point Gandhi was asked if he was a Christian, and he said, essentially, "I sure love Jesus, but the Christians seem so unlike their Christ." A recent study showed that the top three perceptions of Christians in the U. S. among young non-Christians are that Christians are 1) antigay, 2) judgmental, and 3) hypocritical. So what we have here is a bit of an image crisis, and much of that reputation is well deserved. That's the ugly stuff. And that's why I begin by saying that I'm sorry.

Now for the good news.

I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it's that you can have great answers and still be mean... and that just as important as being right is being nice.)

The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it... it was because "God so loved the world." That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven... but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our "Gospel" is the message that Jesus came "not [for] the healthy... but the sick." And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe in the afterlife, but too often all the church has done is promise the world that there is life after death and use it as a ticket to ignore the hells around us. I am convinced that the Christian Gospel has as much to do with this life as the next, and that the message of that Gospel is not just about going up when we die but about bringing God's Kingdom down. It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." On earth.

One of Jesus' most scandalous stories is the story of the Good Samaritan. As sentimental as we may have made it, the original story was about a man who gets beat up and left on the side of the road. A priest passes by. A Levite, the quintessential religious guy, also passes by on the other side (perhaps late for a meeting at church). And then comes the Samaritan... you can almost imagine a snicker in the Jewish crowd. Jews did not talk to Samaritans, or even walk through Samaria. But the Samaritan stops and takes care of the guy in the ditch and is lifted up as the hero of the story. I'm sure some of the listeners were ticked. According to the religious elite, Samaritans did not keep the right rules, and they did not have sound doctrine... but Jesus shows that true faith has to work itself out in a way that is Good News to the most bruised and broken person lying in the ditch.

It is so simple, but the pious forget this lesson constantly. God may indeed be evident in a priest, but God is just as likely to be at work through a Samaritan or a prostitute. In fact the Scripture is brimful of God using folks like a lying prostitute named Rahab, an adulterous king named David... at one point God even speaks to a guy named Balaam through his donkey. Some say God spoke to Balaam through his ass and has been speaking through asses ever since. So if God should choose to use us, then we should be grateful but not think too highly of ourselves. And if upon meeting someone we think God could never use, we should think again.

After all, Jesus says to the religious elite who looked down on everybody else: "The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom ahead of you." And we wonder what got him killed?

I have a friend in the UK who talks about "dirty theology" — that we have a God who is always using dirt to bring life and healing and redemption, a God who shows up in the most unlikely and scandalous ways. After all, the whole story begins with God reaching down from heaven, picking up some dirt, and breathing life into it. At one point, Jesus takes some mud, spits in it, and wipes it on a blind man's eyes to heal him. (The priests and producers of anointing oil were not happy that day.)

In fact, the entire story of Jesus is about a God who did not just want to stay "out there" but who moves into the neighborhood, a neighborhood where folks said, "Nothing good could come." It is this Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and drunkard and rabble-rouser for hanging out with all of society's rejects, and who died on the imperial cross of Rome reserved for bandits and failed messiahs. This is why the triumph over the cross was a triumph over everything ugly we do to ourselves and to others. It is the final promise that love wins.

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors... a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, "I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you." If those of us who believe in God do not believe God's grace is big enough to save the whole world... well, we should at least pray that it is.

Your brother,

Shane

So what do you think? Is being nice as important as being right? Is God's grace enough to save the whole world? What if Jesus really meant all that stuff?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

In case you didn't know they are listening, and more often than not, they are also repeating what they have heard.

Sometimes the things they hear aren't that great.

Case in point: Caleb muttering "Stupid line," when the line at the bank is excessively long or a new favorite song, "Poo Poo Butthead Poo."

Sometimes they are listening when you least expect it.

Case in point: One of Nathan's favorite past times recently is to carry around his little shoes, leaving them in places I would never think to look. One day this week, after putting one of his shoes on him, I was roaming the house in search of the second shoe, loudly asking "Where is your shoe Nathan?" Nathan looked at me and simply bent down and patted the one shoe he had on his foot. There was his shoe. Not much help, but so very cute.

Sometimes the things they hear are fabulous.

Case in point: "Mama, I want to be a Barnabas to Gerby. I will rejoice when he rejoices and cry when he cries." The sermon on Sunday was about being a Barnabas to someone. Barbabas was the man who stood up for Paul after his conversion and introduced him to the apostles. He was one of the best friend's Paul could have. Gerby is one of Caleb's favorite stuffed animals and Caleb has determined he will be Gerby's Barnabas forever.

And then sometimes the things they hear (and say) just blow you away.

"Bite Bite Bear (another stuffed animal), this is a Bible. We read it and go to church to learn about God. Did you know that God loves you? Did you know that God loves you even when you do bad things Bite Bite Bear?"

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Originally, this post was going to be to let you know that things have been quiet this week and that nothing is going on here, but then I started to think just how thankful I am for the nothing that is going on around here.

So here is my thanks for nothing...

I am thankful I did not drop Nathan at the playground on Monday. I was walking through the parking lot carrying Nathan, when my ankle gave out, I fell, Nathan did a full flip in the air and I caught him by the leg, his head mere inches from meeting the asphalt. I am thankful for the pure maternal instinct that took over and for not having to visit the ER with his cracked skull.

I am thankful for a warm, dry house. Fall is here with a vengeance! Cold, rain, wind, more rain. Part of me really wants the sun to come out, but part of me really enjoys days like this when I can curl up with a good book, a cup of hot chocolate and just relax while the wind howls away outside.

I am thankful that David is on his way home from Orlando this afternoon and it looks like he will be getting on an earlier flight than we originally thought!

I am incredibly thankful that we are healthy here...at least for the moment!

And speaking of health and on a somewhat different note...

I was reading Luke 8 for CBS this week and got to the story of the man possessed with a legion of demons that Jesus cast out of him and into a herd of pigs. The pigs rushed off a cliff into the lake where they drowned.

One has to wonder if this was the first recorded account of the swine flew.

Get it, Swine Flew? Ha ha ha.

I know you laughed and if you didn't, hopefully you will at least smile at this mad cow I caught roaming around our place on Halloween...

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Officials estimate 14,000 to 17,000 people have been brought to the United States with the promise of jobs, only to be intimidated, held against their will and forced into prostitution or debt bondage.North Carolina has become one of the top states for human trafficking.

Human trafficking impacts a variety of people in a myriad of ways: A father of two from Nepal who thought he was going to America wound up in Iraq, forced to work at a U.S. airbase. A 14-year-old Ugandan girl kidnapped by rebels spent nearly eight years in captivity as a sex slave and human shield. And a young Venezuelan woman lured to New York by the man she loved wound up in a brothel his family was running.

I can tell you I did not know. I did not know that Charlotte has had several brothel busts in the last few years or that some of the migrant workersworking in and around NC might be here against their will.

I can also tell you that I did not know that I could make a difference in any of this...

Until recently that is. Now that I know, I can make a difference...

I can pray, for this fight is rooted in the depths of evil and is not against flesh and blood, but the evil ruler of this world. (Ephesians 6:12)

I can support great organizations such as Run 4 Revolution. (And I am so not a runner!)

I can spread the word to others that slavery exists and is rampant in our modern society.

So now you know and now you too can make a difference....

(The first words highlighted in each fact is the link to the specific site from which the information came.)

Monday, November 2, 2009

"Of course I would do anything for God. Look at what I have done so far. Just watch this, I am sure Jesus will commend my efforts."

I wonder if something similar to this went through the Rich Young Ruler's head before he asked Jesus the question of inheriting eternal life.

I wonder if he was shocked when Jesus said there was one thing he lacked. I can almost imagine him clearing his throat as he choked in disbelief.

"Not that. I will do anything for God, but THAT. Are you sure I am lacking? Look at what I have done! Please, not that!"

It is so easy to see the faults in this guy, to point at him and say, "Poor thing, he couldn't give THAT up. If only he knew what he was missing..."

But, as my pastor aptly pointed out yesterday, we all have a little bit of this guy inside of us. We like to be in control of whatever THAT is. We then become over confident and proud of THAT. When God asks us to show THAT to Him, we quickly and pridefully display it, but when God asks for us to put THAT in His hands, we grasp it tighter than ever before.

For me THAT would be my boys and my parenting of them. Several months ago, I read Crazy Love by Francis Chan and was challenged to ask the question, "Am I willing to say, whatever it takes God, do it for Your glory?" I prayed then for God to show me if there was any part of me that is unwilling and He was quick to point out, "What if I asked you for your children?"

No worries now. I have no plans to make Caleb carry the sticks up the mountain anytime soon. (Plus, David made me promise, if I ever did, I would talk it over with him first.) But, am I willing to trust God with the lives of my children? Am I willing to surrender them to God?

"Of course I am. I would do anything for God..." Sounds a little someone we know, doesn't it? To be honest, while I want to say that with my entire heart, I am not sure I honestly can say it with my entire heart. For example, I can get in quite a snit when David's parenting ways diverge from my ways. I know now this shows that I am not fully trusting God and that I am still striving for control over THAT He has asked me to surrender.

In the end, I do not think we really know how fully surrendered we are until God calls us in the specific moment to trust Him. The Rich Young Ruler thought he had it all together till God asked for THAT one thing. Failing to surrender, he turned away from God, heartbroken for eternity.

My hope and prayer is this...while I am not yet willing to surrender, that God is working in me to help me be willing and when that moment comes, when He asks for THAT to be placed in His hands, that I would wholeheartedly open my palms up to Him and say "Whatever it takes God, it is Yours."